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Many U.S. and Canadian residents are unaware that fluoride is added to their drinking water supplies, and if they are aware they wrongly assume it is safe

There is an abundance of information available on the devastating health effects of fluoride, including damage to soft tissues (brain, kidneys, and endocrine system), as well as teeth (dental fluorosis) and bones (skeletal fluorosis)

Systemic fluoride has not been shown to reduce cavities or tooth decay to any significant degree

Fluoridating water is reckless, as you cannot control the dose ingested, or who receives it, and there’s no medical supervision. Water fluoridation clearly violates the medical ethical principle of informed consent

By Dr. Mercola

Most people are aware that you should not swallow your toothpaste, and many even know this is because of the fluoride it contains. But when it comes to fluoride in drinking water, many are either unaware that it is there, or they trust their government to know―and do―what's best for them.

Many therefore assume that if the government allows fluoride in their water, it must be safe – but it's not.

There is an abundance of information available on the devastating health effects of fluoride. If this is news to you, the video above may be hard to swallow (as we hope the fluoride will be, following you viewing it) … but it's truth that needs to get out.

You're Being Drugged Without Your Consent

Assuming you live in an area that fluoridates water, and you drink from the municipal water supply, you're being exposed to a toxic drug-like substance every time you take a sip. Fluoridating water is reckless, as you cannot control the dose ingested, or who receives it, and there's no medical supervision. Water fluoridation clearly violates your right to informed consent as far as medical decisions go.

There is not a single process in your body that requires fluoride, but swallowing this toxin has been found to damage your soft tissues (brain, kidneys, and endocrine system), as well as teeth (dental fluorosis) and bones (skeletal fluorosis). There are more than 100 published studies illustrating fluoride's harm to your brain, plus 25 published studies directly linking fluoride exposure to reduced IQ in children!1

Dr. Bill Osmunson, an avid supporter of fluoride opposition, states:

"No one fixes IQ. This is an irreparable, irreversible damage that's happening to our public. When you look at the bell curve of human distribution of intelligence, at the very bottom, way down there at the end, is what we scientifically call the mentally retarded. When you skew IQ five points down, that means that you're doubling the number of mentally retarded and you're halving the number of gifted and everybody else moves on down."

In a nutshell, everyone drinking fluoridated water on a regular basis is getting less intelligent across the board …

It's also known that over time fluoride accumulates in many areas of your body, including areas of your brain that control and alter behavior, particularly your pineal gland, hippocampus and other limbic areas. One particularly striking animal study published in 19952 showed that fluoride ingestion had a profound influence on the animals' brains and altered behavior. Pregnant rats given fluoride produced hyperactive offspring. And animals given fluoride after birth became apathetic, lethargic "couch potatoes."

Did You Know Drinking Fluoride Isn't Even Good for Your Teeth?

Even if you were willing to risk brain damage and even cancer from drinking so much fluoride, in the event it might spare your teeth from decay … you need to know that systemic fluoride has not been shown to reduce cavities. The early historic studies on fluoridation found that naturally-occurring fluoride also happens to be found in areas that are high in calcium and other minerals. According to Dr. Osmunson, many dentists at the time theorized that this higher mineral content might be the real reason for the reduction in tooth decay.

There were some compelling studies showing that fluoride made teeth harder and more able to withstand acids. However, upon further review of the research literature, Dr. Osmunson realized that the evidence supporting fluoride really wasn't as strong as initially touted, and fluoride did not appear to reduce tooth decay to any significant degree.

In fact, he discovered plenty of scientific evidence showing that areas with LESS fluoride had less decay.

A recent review of 11 studies involving more than 7,000 children likewise showed that the effect of fluoride supplements on primary teeth could not be determined, with one study showing no cavity-reducing effect.3 Meanwhile, the study revealed the supplements have only dubious cavity-reducing effects on permanent teeth, and no difference was noted between fluoride supplements or topical fluoride for preventing cavities.

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You're Drinking a Toxic Industrial Waste Product

Even if you're already aware that fluoride is in your drinking water, you might not realize that it is not the naturally-occurring variety. It's not even pharmaceutical grade.

It's a toxic industrial waste product, which is also contaminated with lead, arsenic, radionucleotides, aluminum and other industrial contaminants, and even worse if your municipality is foolish enough to purchase it from China.

The story gets even more convoluted, as declassified files of the Manhattan Project and the Atomic Energy Commission show that the original motivation for promoting fluoride and water fluoridation in the United States was to protect the bomb- and aluminum- and other fluoride-polluting industries from liability. In the early days some of the sodium fluoride used to fluoridate water supplies in the U.S. came from Alcoa.

A couple of years later, they switched to the even more hazardous waste product hydrofluorosilicic acid from the phosphate fertilizer industry. But none of the studies on fluoride actually used the far more toxic and contaminated hydrofluorosilicic acid that is added to the water supply. Rather, they use pharmaceutical-grade fluoride, which while harmful, is not quite as bad as what's being used for water fluoridation. So, the health hazards are likely FAR worse than any study has so far discerned.

One early sign of over-exposure to fluoride is dental fluorosis, which typically begins as white specks on your teeth, which then progress to more unsightly yellow and brown mottling of the enamel. At the first signs of dental fluorosis, if you haven't done so already, you'll want to immediately eliminate as many sources of fluoride as possible. Shockingly, 41% of adolescents in the US currently have dental fluorosis from overexposure to fluoride. And remember nearly one-third of the US is NOT fluoridated.

Can You Remove Fluoride From Your Drinking Water?

Fluoride currently contaminates nearly 70 percent of the U.S. public water supplies. Therefore, it is an extreme challenge to limit your exposure even inside the safety of your own home. For people living in areas with fluoridated tap water, fluoride is a part of every glass of water, every bath and shower, and every meal cooked using that water.

You could opt for bottled water, but as a general rule, I don't recommend or encourage using bottled water on a regular basis—for a number of reasons. Not only does it contribute to profound amounts of environmental pollution, but a variety of toxins can leach from the plastic, contaminating your water. Not to mention the fact that you're not guaranteed a more pure product to begin with.

An estimated 40 percent of all bottled water is just bottled tap water that may or may not have received additional water treatment. In fact many bottles waters actually believe fluoride is useful to they add it back in the water! And many others just use filters that do not remove fluoride. So buying bottled water certainly is not a guarantee of getting either pure or fluoride-free water!

For pure drinking water, your best bet, from a practical perspective, is to filter the water coming into your own home. Unfortunately, fluoride can be quite difficult to remove from water once added in. Reverse osmosis systems have typically been recommended to remove fluoride, but according to fluoride activist Jeff Green, many home systems may not be very efficient at this task. Commercial systems are typically much better, as they have redundancy features not found in smaller-scale residential models.

So while you can easily choose not to take fluoride supplements or opt to buy fluoride-free toothpaste and mouthwash, you're stuck with whatever your community puts in the water, and it's very difficult to filter out of your water once it's added. Many do not have the resources or the knowledge to do so.

The only real solution is to stop the archaic practice of water fluoridation at the source and become a fluoride-free activist. However this does not mean showing up to your local municipal meetings and lecturing them about the dangers of fluoride. That approach rarely works.

What's the Best Strategy to Get Fluoride Out of Drinking Water for Good?

A far more effective strategy is to find a champion already on the city council and mentor that person to do their own due diligence, which will eventually allow them to "discover" the truth themselves -- far more effective and far more likely to resist overturning the decision in a future administration.

I recently interviewed Jeff Green, who has been an activist in the movement to eliminate toxic fluoride from your water supply for the past 15 years. One element he addressed is that many of us who are first exposed to issues such as this enter into a world of anger at injustice, where we see the problem so passionately and so clearly that we carry the burden of truth and are in a hurry to tell others to set it right, viewing anyone who does not immediately agree with our view as opposition that must be overwhelmed with facts and a list of "shoulds."

In this state we look angry, and are easily characterized as a zealot, probably because we are. Asking someone without our passion to join us may not be that inviting.

Should we expect that this would be any different when speaking to authorities and asking them to act? If you are able to suspend your anger at injustice, able to switch your focus from stating the problem to addressing solutions, there are avenues available. If you would like to elevate your discussions from the argumentative "he said, she said" to letting the facts declare themselves, and you are in a position of authority from which you can champion the performance of due diligence, contact us for access to guidance and further information.

If you are capable of being an advocate of safe drinking water and would like to assist in identifying a champion for due diligence in your community, contact us for approaches and further information.

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Disclaimer: The entire contents of this website are based upon the opinions of Dr. Mercola, unless otherwise noted. Individual articles are based upon the opinions of the respective author, who retains copyright as marked. The information on this website is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical advice. It is intended as a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of Dr. Mercola and his community. Dr. Mercola encourages you to make your own health care decisions based upon your research and in partnership with a qualified health care professional. If you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or have a medical condition, consult your health care professional before using products based on this content.

If you want to use an article on your site please click here. This content may be copied in full, with copyright, contact, creation and information intact, without specific permission, when used only in a not-for-profit format. If any other use is desired, permission in writing from Dr. Mercola is required.

Disclaimer: The entire contents of this website are based upon the opinions of Dr. Mercola, unless otherwise noted. Individual articles are based upon the opinions of the respective author, who retains copyright as marked. The information on this website is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical advice. It is intended as a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of Dr. Mercola and his community. Dr. Mercola encourages you to make your own health care decisions based upon your research and in partnership with a qualified health care professional. If you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or have a medical condition, consult your health care professional before using products based on this content.

If you want to use an article on your site please click here. This content may be copied in full, with copyright, contact, creation and information intact, without specific permission, when used only in a not-for-profit format. If any other use is desired, permission in writing from Dr. Mercola is required.